you keep me afloat
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Dominique can always turn to her Grandpa for advice.


**AN:** Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

* * *

 **you keep me afloat**

 **AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

 **FEBRUARY**

 **Age Seven**

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"What's that?" I asked pointing up at the dusty yellow duck on the top shelf.

It looked like a toy and I wondered why Grandpa would keep it tucked away in his workshop. I hadn't even noticed it before, and I was always in here learning about all the muggle stuff Grandpa had. Maybe it wasn't a toy; maybe it was dangerous.

"That, Dommie, is a rubber duck," Grandpa explained; his expression turned sad. "I never did find out what it did. I honestly forgot it was even up there; there are so many things in here."

"Is it dangerous?"

"No. No. Of course not." he explained as he got onto his tiptoes and lifted it down from between boxes.

He rubbed away some of the dust on his shirt and it was bright yellow underneath; it's beak a sort of fading orange. He held it out to me; I blinked. Grandpa was always talking about some of the items in here being dangerous. I only hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking it. It was a little bit weird and I turned it over so the painted green eyes were staring up at mine.

"You don't know what it does?" I questioned.

Grandpa always knew everything. He smiled and pushed his glasses up into his greying hair.

"Your Uncle Harry told me it was for the bathroom," he replied. "But I still don't know exactly what they're supposed to do. I suppose you can take it home if you'd like."

My eyes widened. "Yes please!"

He took it back and waved his wand over it to clean like Dad did in the kitchen sometimes. When he gave it back it was all shiny and I grinned happily.

"Pop it in the pocket of your coat, sweetie. You don't want your older sister to get jealous." Grandpa said with a wink.

I carefully tucked it away. Victoire always took my toys and pretended she didn't have them. She hid them under her bed and pretended she hadn't taken them at all. She was in the main house with my parents and Grandma. They were doing something boring; I much preferred to see what Grandpa was doing or working on. It was cold in his workshop today. We were only supposed to be five minutes and somehow I was sure we'd been out here much longer.

Maybe one day I could figure out what the rubber duck was supposed to do and tell Grandpa. Or, at the very least, be as clever as he was.

* * *

 **AUGUST**

 **Age Eleven**

* * *

Dad found me crying three days before Hogwarts.

It had just occurred to me that I was leaving home. That not only would I be away from my parents and younger brother, but I wouldn't be able to spend the weekend helping Grandpa in his workshop, and that had finally triggered tears.

I didn't want to be sad; I was excited to go to Hogwarts. Loads of my cousins were already there, and James and I were going to be in the same year, but half my family were still miles away.

The rubber duck was packed alongside my teddy.

* * *

 **NOVEMBER**

 **Age Twelve**

* * *

"I have a question."

Lewis Keegan looked up from his comic book and I swung my legs between the railings of the loft in the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"What's up, Dom?" he asked.

"You're a Muggleborn, right? So surely you know what a rubber duck does?" I replied.

He smirked. "You don't have rubber ducks in the Magical World?"

I shook my head. Would I honestly be asking the question if I knew what it was? He looked surprised, but then him being a Muggleborn and me being a Pureblood, we were learning loads of stuff from each other. We were pretty much inseparable now and we'd only known each other two months.

"Well, they're sort of like toys. They float in the bath and you know kids play with them."

"Is that it?" I asked.

"That's it."

* * *

 **DECEMBER**

 **Age Twelve**

* * *

 _Dear Grandpa,_

 _I wanted to send this to you early because I don't want everyone to think I'm getting them presents. In the package you'll find another rubber duck; it's a little bit like the one you give me when I was seven._

 _My friend Lewis told me they're toys. They float in the bath and kids play with them whilst they get clean. He helped me find this one on the interweb - or internet (I can't remember) - but he wants Hogwarts to get electricity soon. He thinks I should get a mobile phone so that I can get in touch with people. I've used his; it has games and stuff. I really want one now but he also says good ones are expensive._

 _Anyway, I hope you like the rubber duck! See you soon._

 _Lots of Love,_

 _Dommie._

* * *

 **MAY**

 **Age Eighteen**

* * *

Coming up to exams I almost forgot about Grandpa's birthday. In the midst of revising for six N.E.W.T's I'd seemed to forget about a lot of things; important things - not just eating and sleeping. I took a great satisfaction, that in one month from now, all my exams would be over and revising would be a thing of the past.

I had gone three ways on a present for Grandpa with Vic and Louis, but just like every year, I placed an order for another rubber duck for his collection.

On the afternoon before my Muggle Studies exam my phone buzzed in my pocket. Hogwarts had finally upped its game when I was in fifth year and realised a lot of students had phones now. Electricity was finally a given in school (much to the pleasure of the student population). A stupid photo from last Christmas of me and Grandpa flashed up on my mobile screen. I half-smiled and hit accept.

"Hi Grandpa," I said.

"Hi Sweetie, can you hear me?" he replied loudly. "How are you? Revising hard?"

"I'm good. I can hear you perfectly fine."

"I'm using the white thingies that you put in your ears," he explained.

"The headphones." I corrected.

He told me he'd had an email saying that his parcel had been dropped off in the yellow locker in the nearby Muggle Village. He'd walked there, and was now standing in a shop looking at the locker, not sure what he was doing.

I sighed. "Can you see the screen?"

"Yes. Yes. In the middle." he replied. "I wrote the code on my hand from the email. It said I'd need it when I fetch my parcel. Do I just say it out loud? Which door opens? There's fifty-six; I've counted."

I laughed. "No. No. The screen you can touch - like you do with your phone. Follow the instructions, put in your code, and then one of those little yellow doors is going to swing open."

I guided him through that, and judging by the amazed ' _Cor-Blimey_ ' I heard afterwards, I guessed it had worked. Introducing Grandpa to the wonders of the Muggle World was oddly calming. I'd been really stressed beforehand. Once he'd stopped talking about how fantastic the yellow locker was, which was a while later, he wanted to know exactly how my exams were going and how I was.

"I'm nervous. I really want to do well in Muggle Studies tomorrow but the culture section is really intense." I explained.

"You know what. You've learnt more in your eighteen years than I have in seventy-odd. All you have to do is take a deep breath and have a plan. Your Dad wrote to me almost every day, he was so anxious like you are, but he got through and you are going to as well." Grandpa said.

I smiled weakly looking down at all my coloured notes.

"At the end of the day, even if you don't do well, it isn't the end of the world. You're a bright girl Dommie," he added.

"Oh God. You'll make me all embarrassed," I said trying to stop myself from getting all emotional. "Now go home and open your parcel. You'll like this one."

He wished me the best of luck and then ended the call.

Staring down at the keyring attached to my pencil case I faltered a little. The keyring consisted of a shrunken down version of the rubber duck that Grandpa had given me back in his workshop when I was a kid. It had gone a little faded after eleven years, but it never left my person, and it was going to my exam in the morning.

* * *

 **APRIL**

 **Age Forty-One**

* * *

 _Please find enclosed seventy-nine rubber ducks. Love Grandpa._

What was I going to do with a box of nearly eighty rubber ducks?

* * *

 **Comp/Challenge & Prompts: **

**Going Going Gone** : 67. (5 coins) - Character: Dominique Weasley

 **Word Count** **:** 1462 — not inc. notes, titles, or ANs.


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